Friday, 23 September 2016

First Impression: L'oreal Infallible foundation

If you've seen my Trafford Centre haul post then you would have seen that I had purchased yet another foundation to try out. This time is was the L'Oreal Infallible Foundation in the shade 140 Golden Beige. It wasn't particularly a foundation that has stood out to me in the past, however after seeing my sister using this, I decided I wanted to try it out. I've used this twice since I bought it, so not exactly a first impression, but I feel like I haven't used it enough to give a full review of this particular foundation.

The first time I used this foundation was for my graduation, and was the hottest day of the year. Because of that, this review may not be the most accurate. However, I have used this foundation a few times afterwards on both myself and for my friend's bridal makeup trail, so I will add my further thoughts at the end.

On my initially application, a started by using a brush and found that that left a somewhat streaky finish, so I moved to a damp sponge. For some reason, on my skin, this does not work either. I have found that the best application of this foundation for myself is by using my hands. I have also found that you need to work in small sections, and light layers to ensure the best finish and even coverage. It does blend quickly and easily though, I was very surprised! I'll also add that it doesn't mix well with other foundations, particularly a more hydrating formula such as the Body Shop Moisture foundation (review here).

Colour correction and coverage is good, however I do find that it accentuates pores and roughness on my dry skin. This can be avoided by ensuring that your skin is properly prepped and hydrated. The colour match of this shade of foundation, initially is really good and is almost the perfect shade for me. However, on my skin, it oxides very fast and very badly, creating a very orange look to my face. When trying to blend the foundation down the neck, this creates a terribly patchy look. I do find that after about an hours wear or so, the orange tone does die down a little bit and looks a bit more like a normal skin colour. This can also be said for the accentuation of texture within the skin - after about an hours wear, the foundation seems to mesh more seamlessly with the skin - however I'm unsure if this is simply because I have used MAC's Fix+ to set my makeup, or if this is just the natural progression of the foundation.

The wear of this foundation overall, is good and does seem to last the whole day, therefore living up to the claims on the bottle. I will say however, due to the thick formula, this isn't a great foundation for hot weather. It doesn't sit well on the skin for long periods in extreme heat. Overall, this isn't a great foundation for dry skin and would work better on oily skin types - and I will go into this more in-depth in a moment. I have found, that on my skin, powder does not sit well on top of this foundation, and results in an extremely cake-y look. It you do have dry skin, the longevity of this foundation does mean that you will probably survive without a powder. Another claim of this foundation, in addition to it's 24H wear, is that it is transfer resistant. I wouldn't say that this claim is 100% true - although it does do a good job at it, I still find that if, say I touch my face with a tissue, there is some transfer there.

As I have said, I do think this would work better on oilier skin types, as I have found, after using it on my friend, that it doesn't completely mattify and leaves a satin, almost dewy finish without making the skin look oily. Throw on a light reflecting powder such as the Hourglass Ambient Lighting powders or even the Makeup Revolution Radiance highlighting powders (review coming soon) and you have a recipe for success - perfect for a special occasion or night out. I did find that it didn't oxidise on her, so that might just be something to do with my skin, and it also mixed really well with The Body Shop Shade Adjusting Drops, so maybe all of these bad points are just down to my dry skin - who knows!

However, I don't think I would purchase this foundation again, just because the drawbacks of it are too big for me to over look and there are a number of other foundations that I prefer much better for my skin type. On the other hand, for a long lasting foundation, I do prefer it better than Revlon ColorStay (review here) and would recommend this for oilier skin types. However if you have dry skin like me, I would probably go with the Rimmel Lasting Finish 25H foundation (the one with the red cap).

Have you tried this foundation - what did you think? What is your favourite long-lasting foundation - I'd love to here in the comments!